Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) budget proposal for fiscal year 2004-2005, which was introduced on Friday, calls for the repeal of more than 12 laws that address issues including health care, the Sacramento Bee reports. The budget proposal in part would repeal:

AB 1676, sponsored by Assembly member John Dutra (D-Fremont) and signed by former Gov. Gray Davis (D) last year, which requires physicians to inform pregnant women that HIV testing will be included in a battery of tests routinely performed on pregnant women and provide counseling for women who find out that they are HIV-positive;

SB 322, sponsored by Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) and signed by former Gov. Gray Davis (D) last year, which requires the state by 2005 to write guidelines for research using human embryonic stem cells; and

SB 617, sponsored by Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), which allows families of tissue donors to prevent their relatives' tissue from being used for cosmetic surgery.

Many of the laws that Schwarzenegger proposed repealing took effect Jan. 1 but have not yet been implemented, according to the Bee. Department of Finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer on Tuesday said that the governor wants to repeal the laws because it is not clear how the state would pay for them. He added that "at a time when we are asking existing state programs to endure budget cuts and cost controls, it's counterintuitive to start new state program expansions." Some legislators who sponsored the bills that Schwarzenegger proposes to repeal on Tuesday said that the cost of implementing most of the legislation is negligible and that the measures are designed to save the state money over time, the Bee reports (Benson, Sacramento Bee, 1/14).
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